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1. Field of Invention
The invention is a safety lock applied to a vehicle wheel during a road stop to prevent the vehicle from moving or being driven away during the stop. This safety lock would be applied to any tire on the vehicle by law enforcement or safety inspectors during the stop, the safety lock slid onto the tire from the outside of the tire, with friction enhanced chocks in front and in back of the tire, locking onto the tire to prevent the rotation of the tire, reducing the risk of injury or escape in the event an attempt is made to drive away during the road stop. It may also be used to secure a tire or wheel during maintenance or during an emergency roadside repair, the device compact enough to fit in the trunk of a car and light enough in weight to be carried by an average individual.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to tire or wheel immobilizers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,983 to Lentini, a tire chock is disclosed having a base member which clamps onto a circumferential periphery of a wheel over a tire on either a front side or a back side, but not both sides. This device is engaged by screwing two gripping arms together with a concave surfaced solid block of rigid material attached between the gripping arms in contact with the tire surface. This device does not engage the front and rear surface of a tire at the same time, and it requires a screw to be turned to engage the device.
Another anti-theft device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,212 to Fritzler, wherein another single contact surface device is disclosed having engaging means with the circumferential periphery of a wheel having an adjustable screw clamp in which a bar is rotated clamping two surfaces around the tire and wheel, after which the screw clamp is locked with a padlock. In the patent, use of two devices, one in front of the tire and another in back of the tire, form two xe2x80x9cchocksxe2x80x9d on the tire, but two devices are required to form this two surface contact, two padlocks are required, and two installations are needed to perform this function, which the current invention accomplishes in a single embodiment. It also requires one to screw the device onto the wheel.
A wheel lock for a dual wheeled device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,893 to Switzer which is not adapted to engage a single tire and wheel, relying on the locking cross brace to engage the inner rims of a dual wheel mounting system, locking the two chocks, applied to either the front or rear of the dual tires, to the tire surfaces. A Y-shaped tire lock, apparently surrounding a tire at three contact points, is disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. D 418,391 to Tsai, appearing to engage a tire on a front, rear and top, or at least three points in a Y pattern on the tire, with what appears to be a slide locking bar, one of the three arms comprising the lock slidable engaged with the other two with a key lock system.
A dual chock system, placing one chock in front of the tire and another at the rear of the tire, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,724 to Raine. This vehicle immobilization device includes a pair of chocks and a top hook which is hooked over the wheel at a point above the central ground contact point, chock arms adjustably connecting the two chocks with an adjustable stem correcting the top hook to the chock arms. The adjustable stem and the chock arms are locked together, the lock having opposing corrugate strips which, when compressed by the foot channel, lock the two facing channels of the chock arms together preventing separation of the two chock arms holding the two chocks firmly against the front and rear surfaces of the tire. This patent is distinguishable by requiring two distinct locking means in perpendicular directions to engage the three locking components, comprised of the two chocks and the top hook, has no friction enhancing means of the tire contact surfaces of the chocks, and also does not have ground contact cleats on the bottom of the chocks to prevent lateral movement of the chocks.
Every year, during traffic or safety inspection stops, law enforcement and inspectors are injured when motor vehicles are moved during the course of a stop, either on purpose or due to criminal attempt at escape. Law enforcement officers have generally only had their presence to thwart such escape or movement, leaving them at risk of severe or fatal injury. A device to prevent such movement, light enough to carry and simple enough to install in a matter of seconds without a great deal of attention to the application of the device, is sought to reduce the possibility of vehicle movement during the stop. The current device, unlike the other patents disclosed, accomplishes the following objectives.
The primary objective of the invention provide a quickly installed tire safety lock to prevent the movement of a vehicle during a safety or traffic stop, applied to a vehicle wheel by sliding the tire safety lock from the outside of the tire, placing a front chock and rear chock in front and behind a tire, capturing the tire within the chock until after the tire safety lock is removed.
A second objective allows the device to literally be installed by placing the device on the ground and sliding it onto the tire using the feet without requiring the person installing the device to bend over during installation.
Yet another objective is accomplished in the device, employing friction enhanced contact surfaces on the chocks and cleats on the bottom of the base members, firmly engages the device to the surface of the captured tire and the ground, using gravity and friction to hold the tire within the safety stop lock of the current invention.